Good Food in Lisbon

For food lovers, Lisbon has been always considered to be a heaven with its top quality & fresh sea food, good cheese and tasty wines. In the recent years with the new openings and new generation of entrepreneurial chefs, dining in Lisbon has got even better.

It’s no secret that we (me & Uzcan) travel mostly for food, and our trip to Lisbon was no different. I listed our top 5 Lisbon restaurants here, don’t end your trip before trying at least 2 of these:

TAPISCO

tapisco goodcityguides

tapisco goodcityguides

Created by Chef Henrique Sá Pessoa, Tapisco is a restaurant celebrating both Portuguese and Spanish cuisines. Some dishes represent Catalan heritage and infused with Portuguese.

You also can’t miss cocktail menu! Besides “Old Fashioned” and “Principe”, try varieties of vermut that go very well with tapas on the menu.

Crowd in Tapisco is very friendly and welcoming, expect long dinner tables with laughter.

BAIRRO DO AVILLEZ

Another brilliant chef restaurant. José Avillez is an entrepreneurial chef; he has different restaurants/bars/cafes scattered around the city.

Within Bairro do Avillez, there are 5 different restaurants: Merceria, Taberna, Pateo, Beco and Cantina Peruana. Merceria is a gourmet deli with good cheese and wine. Taberna offers surprising shared food around the table. Pateo has deliciously fresh sea food. Beco is one-of-a-kind experience; fine dining meets theatre and shows. You should book in advance. And Cantina Peruana is dedicated to Peruvian cuisine.

We tried Pateo; giant red shrimp and squidink paella on the menu quickly became our favorite.

A TABERNA DA RUA DAS FLORES

Typical Portuguese food with simple twists. There are 6-8 items on the menu, and they change every day. Even daily menu changes from launch to dinner. House wine is a must try. Don’t forget to bring cash, they don’t accept credit cards.

SEA MEA

Sea Mea in Bairro Alto is a modern fish shop where you’ll find high quality fish & shellfish and also really good sushi.

The restaurant has its own fish farms in the Ria Formosa. When you enter, the waitress takes you to the fresh fish stand; you select the one you want and they cook it for you. They have nearly everything that old traditional fish restaurants in Lisbon offer.

Their specialty is “Nigiri de Sardinha”. You’ll be amazed how such simple dish can be insanely delicious. Trick must be the ingredient!

A CEVICHERIA

Hot spot in Principe Real! Whenever we passed by, there was always a que outside of the restaurant, with people drinking Pisco Sour – one of their signature cocktails.

It’s a restaurant that combines Portuguese inspiration with Peruvian cuisine, created by Chef Kiko Martins. You have to try Ceviche Puro (which you’ll see in the photo); it’s made of white fish, sweet potato puree, onion, algae and tiger’s milk (ceviche broth). That doesn’t taste like anything that we’ve tried before, you’ll want to eat it all the time!